GOVERNOR COOPER PREDICTS "BORN ALIVE" VETO WILL BE SUSTAINED: As for the "born-alive" abortion survivors bill, the House is slated to attempt an override vote on his veto Wednesday. The Senate already voted to overturn the veto, but Republican leadership faces more difficult numbers in the House, where they hold a majority but will need to pull more Democrats to reach the three-fifths threshold needed. "I think the veto will be sustained," Cooper said. "We need to move on from these divisive social and political issues and talk about the real issues facing the people of North Carolina: education, health care, bringing good-paying jobs." Override vote will be held at 2 p.m. in the NC House.
https://www.wral.com/governor-weighs-in-on-state-budget-abortion-veto-other-issues/18431106/

SURVIVORS OF MASS SHOOTINGS SUFFER FROM PTSD, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES: In one week in March, two student survivors of the Parkland school shooting killed themselves. Around the same time, the father of a 6-year-old killed girl in Newtown died of an apparent suicide. He had created a foundation in his daughter's name to support research on violence prevention. Austin Eubanks, a Columbine student who was shot and watched his best friend die in the school massacre, died last month, possibly of an overdose. He struggled with opioid use after the attack and later became an addiction recovery speaker. A memorial fund established in his name is seeking funds for a trauma-informed program for families and victims of mass violence. After the Parkland suicides, Hunschofsky says, many people sought mental health help for the first time. "They just told me, 'I thought I was OK, but after this happened, maybe I'm not. Maybe I do need to talk to someone.'" The community's wellness center, established after the Parkland shooting, extended its hours.
https://www.wral.com/mass-shootings-create-rippling-network-of-stricken-survivors/18426269/

SENATE BUDGET INCLUDES NEW FEES FOR ELECTRIC AND PLUG-IN HYBRID VEHICLES: The proposed budget approved by the Senate on Friday would increase the annual fee paid by owners of electric vehicles by $100, to $230 starting next year. Owners of plug-in hybrid vehicles would face a new registration fee of $115 a year. Both fees would be adjusted for population growth and inflation annually starting in 2021. A similar proposal was included in an early version of the House budget but was stripped out before the plan was approved by the House. Budget negotiators from the House and Senate will have to decide whether the proposal ends up in the final version of the budget the General Assembly sends to the governor. Owners of electric vehicles have paid a special annual registration fee since 2013, and it was raised to $130 two years later. But this would be the first time hybrid vehicle owners would face such a fee.
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article230983743.html

NC HOUSE VETO OVERRIDE VOTE ON "BORN ALIVE" BILL WILL BE JUNE 5: After pulling a potential vote to override Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of an abortion bill off the House calendar nine times over the last four weeks, House Speaker Tim Moore on Wednesday set a date certain for the vote. Moore, R-Cleveland, said the override vote on Senate Bill 359, the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, would be held on June 5. The bill would make it a felony for a doctor not to provide care for an infant born after a botched abortion, and it creates a duty for other health care professionals to report any such failure to act. Lawmakers passed the measure last month, but Cooper quickly vetoed it, calling it "an unnecessary interference between doctors and their patients" because state law already protects newborns. "This needless legislation would criminalize doctors and other health care providers for a practice that simply does not exist," he said.
https://www.wral.com/speaker-sets-date-for-house-override-vote-on-abortion-bill-veto/18418223/

FRANKLIN GRAHAM CALLS FOR PRAYER TO "STRENGTHEN" DONALD TRUMP: Evangelist Franklin Graham, the son of the late Rev. Billy Graham, called on Christians Sunday to set aside Sunday, June 2, as a "special day of prayer for the President." "President Trump's enemies continue to try everything to destroy him, his family and the presidency," Graham wrote on Facebook. "In the history of our country, no president has been attacked as he has. I believe the only hope for him, and this nation, is God." The response has been mixed. Many people have promised to pray for the president. And many have taken Graham to task for politicizing prayer. Andy Rowell, a graduate of Duke Divinity School and assistant professor of ministry leadership at Bethel Seminary in Minnesota, wrote: "All Christians believe in praying for their government leaders. But this initiative and wording and signers has been shaped to be an event flattering President Trump without regard to the morality of what he does."
https://www.wral.com/franklin-graham-calls-for-day-of-prayer-to-protect-strengthen-the-president/184...